Star
Trek's Welfare Program:
A Cynics Corner Special Report

[I never wrote an actual review of "Resurrection" This tangentially related
article was posted to Usenet on 11/23/97. It is included in the archive for historical
purposes, as it is the first reference to Star Trek's Welfare Program, a
long-running Cynics Corner institution]

After surviving one viewing of the deadly
dull and monumentally cliched DS9 travesty "Resurrection," it occurred
to me that the episode was so ... unnecessary. I mean, was anyone really that interested
in seeing Bareil again? Well, thought The Cynic, there's at least one person who was,
namely Philip Anglim, the actor who portrays Bareil, and he doesn't seem to be getting a
lot of work. A-ha, thought The Cynic, "Resurrection" was another chapter in Star
Trek's Welfare Program for unemployed former recurring actors. The program works like
this. Star Trek has a recurring character who dies or becomes otherwise
unavailable for appearances, thus putting the actor portraying that character out of work.
If, after a certain amount of time, that actor is still not making a living wage, Star
Trek writers will concoct a half-baked way to bring that character back, thus
providing said actor with a much-needed paycheck. Other actors, besides Philip Anglim, who
have been on Star Trek's welfare rolls include Denise Crosby (Tasha Yar) and
Martha Hackett (Seska). It's possible, perhaps even likely, that DS9's Mirror
Universe and Voyager's Holodeck were built into the shows with the specific
purpose of making the welfare program work more easily and in a manner less obvious to the
average viewer. Unfortunately, pabulum such as "Resurrection" totally destroys
the illusion that actual thinking goes into these characters' returns, and only fuels the
fire of cynicism raging through fandom. That is all.